He said the details of the project for the private sector had been included in the budget for the economy ministry and the details would be explained during the committee stage debate in Parliament.

“To maintain the government’s focus on the issue of people’s salaries, a pilot project for implementing the progressive wage will be carried out in 2024 to assess its effectiveness and availability,” Rafizi said in his winding up speech in the Dewan Rakyat.

He also announced that a white paper on the proposal for a progressive wage policy would be presented in Parliament on Nov 30.

He said the white paper would explain the basic features and the implementation mechanism, which could be discussed at length in the 2024 budget debate.

“It is better if the entire proposal and details are presented in the white paper to allow MPs and the public to thoroughly assess the approach and timeline, as well as delve into the structural matters that need to be resolved,” Rafizi said.

He said the decision was made by the Cabinet to allow all the details in the white paper to be answered and debated in Dewan Rakyat.

In Sept, Rafizi announced that the Cabinet had approved the progressive wage policy and that the specifics would be presented in the 2024 budget.

However, Radzi Jidin (PN-Putrajaya) said there was not a single mention of the policy in the 2024 budget despite the various announcements made by Rafizi.

In addition to the minimum wage policy, the progressive wage policy is a new strategy that attempts to gradually increase workers’ wages.